Trade your Heroes for Ghosts
by ScreamScarlett
Summary: "What?" I asked, a little unnerved from his intense staring. "You just remind me of someone..." James said after a long while. Well, I thought as I watched him dig into his food, at least we were getting somewhere on this so-called soul-searching trip.
1. do you (not) feel safe?

**Scream's Notes: **It wasn't long ago that I was amongst the many who sat in a movie theater, laughing and crying through the whole thing as everything unfolded. Honestly speaking, when I saw the first movie of Captain America, I didn't think much of Bucky Barnes; he was just another pretty face (besides Chris Evans). But in the Winter Soldier... _Wow_. The whole dark look, days old stubble, and long hair just blew me away and I, along with many others, fell in love with this stone-cold, brainwashed, beautiful man. I hope you guys come to like my new story!

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**тяα∂є уσυя ******нєяσєѕ **ƒσя ****gнσѕтѕ**

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"Is this really necessary?" I asked, tugging at the thick jacket wrapped around me.

"Statistics says that rookies feel a a lot better with that on in the first few weeks of their start in the police department." Lou Baker, a forty-one-year old veteran police officer with a slightly robust frame, said before giving me a once over. "Do you feel better?"

"Well, I certainly feel a lot warmer now." I muttered under my breath.

Lou only shook his head, muttering quietly to himself, although I caught the lines of "kids" and "energetic punks" escaping from his chapped lips. I snorted and flicked the AC switch a little higher.

Despite it being April, the weather was still cold up in the North with the climate changes and whatnot. All day there was nothing much to do but patrol around the streets, pulling over to leave behind parking tickets on windshields and occasionally letting off a jaywalker with a warning.

It was just another slow day in the beginning career as a police officer.

I let out a sigh as I gazed out at the window in boredom, watching people walk along the sidewalks to wherever they were heading. Seeing a poster slapped up on a wall, I squinted my dark eyes to see that it was a movie poster.

"That's it, when I get home, I'm gonna buy me a Hobbit movie."

"The Hobbit?" Lou mumbled to himself as he turned his face briefly towards me. "You too? Jesus, and I thought I heard enough of that nonsense from my daughters."

"What?" I scrunched my face in confusion.

"Dana and Kim are gushing on and on about how hot dwarves are, or some baloney like that." Lou shook his head, and I couldn't help but giggle. I had to agree with the girls, Peter Jackson was teasing us all for hiring hot men to play dwarves.

Suddenly, the radio on the dashboard buzzed alive. Lou and I shared a glance before the older man reached to heighten the volume for us to hear clearly.

Rapid codes were filling in the air of the silence police car, and suddenly everything wasn't just a normal, boring day for me.

_Huge car pile up. Attack on West Shoreway. Armed and dangerous individuals. Suspected gang rivalry. Citizens trapped in the crossfire. Captain America, Wanted Fugitive, spotted. Men down. Any local officers of the vicinity, please respond._

Lou's eyes flickered to me and I knew what he was immediately thinking; if he didn't have a rookie cop with him now, he would gone straight for the scene. However, I was here, and he had no clue what to do next. I didn't give him the chance to ponder on what to do because I was preparing myself for action.

"Let's go!" I told him, flicking on the sirens before unbuckling the cover of my gun holster.

"Now just hold on a minute, Marley...!" Lou began, but I would have none of his bullshit.

"There's people that need help, so quit coddling me and lets go and do our job, goddammit!" I snapped at him, increasingly becoming angry the more we wasted time arguing.

Lou let out a low growl, his expression telling me he was going to deal with my attitude later when this was all over.

With a frustrated noise, Lou slammed the gad pedal and we sped off on the streets towards the danger. The closer we got, the more we heard the noise of gunshots being fired and the screams escaping from the open mouths of frightened pedestrians.

When Lou made a sharp turn towards the corner to Lakeside Avenue, we both were met with a scene of destruction and chaos. A bus was flipped over where civilians were hiding from the oncoming wave of gunfire being released in their direction.

As startled gasp escaped me when I spotted a burning cop car that had crashed itself on the side of the building. The inferno was large and it was whirling and dancing through the roofs, and it didn't take a genius to figure out who the downed policemen were.

"_Jesus Christ_!" Lou gasped as he took in the sight in front of him. "We're gonna need more back up than just the two of us!"

Before he could reach for the radio, our car was on the receiving end of bullets. We both ducked down, trying to avoid being hit by the flying lead that through the windshield of the car.

"Fuck!" I shouted. "We gotta ram them!"

"What?!"

"_RAM 'EM_, LOU!" I urged him as I reached his leg and forced it to press against the gas pedal.

The force of the car shot straight towards the line of fire, and I felt a small amount of relief when there was a cease of shots fired... but it all came crashing down, literally.

I gasped when I found my head slammed against the dashboard, hearing Lou grunt along with me until things quieted down. I slowly rose up, wincing at the sharp sting that came from the temple of my head. I looked around me and saw the top portion of the car destroyed by thousands of bullets that had whizzed over our heads.

Lou was down for the count since he remained motionless against the steering wheel. The men that were shooting us had reformed and were shooting at the people once again, uncaring of the screams the innocent people gave off.

Yet, the more I looked closely, the more I noticed they weren't just shooting randomly at innocent people. They were shooting at a shield... a very familiar shield I've only seen in the media and newspaper prints: Captain America's iconic shield.

Captain America was in the middle of being openly fired upon, trapped by the barrage of bullets that struck at his raised shield. He was in trouble and he needed someone to help him beat the bastards before they killed anymore people so recklessly.

Feeling a renewed sense to stop these shooters at whatever cost, I gave once quick glance to the unconscious Lou before throwing the door open and taking out my handgun. I didn't have other guns on me, just a single handgun because people didn't trust rookies to carry extras on them, but I hoped I had enough bullets to take out the men.

I ran from the car, not wanting to get Lou hurt from what I was about to do. I ran along the street, out of the eye view of the shooters before ducking behind an abandoned car. People were still running and screaming to find a safe place, and I waved my arm at them to keep running as I checked my gun for bullets that I was about to fire.

There was no reason to call on them to cease shooting, they already killed a pair of cops and tried to kill me and Lou; so, without warning, I flicked the gun safety off and opened fire.

The first man went down with a shout, startling the guy next to him. I fired more shots again, getting the attention of the men. Seeing one guy handling a M134 minigun, I aimed for him. I sucked at shooting, and I especially sucked at shooting when I was trembling like a leaf against the raging wind, but I had to stop them. I let out a yelp when I was once again under heavy gunfire, wincing when I felt shards of glass fall over me.

Fortunately, the gunshots began to cease. I risked a look over the hood to find Captain America in the middle of taking out the men. I spotted another shooter that was on the highway bridge, but thankfully he wasn't some asshole who was a part of this and was actually helping Captain America take them out.

I startled when I heard a distant explosion echo from the direction of where the crowd of people had been previously running towards. Seeing as this scene was already being dealt with, I shot to my feet and ran to the direction of the explosion in hopes that I would make it in time to take out whoever was going around doing harm.

There was big, black smoke floating away in the air in thick clouds, and I was horrified to see another cop car in flames. Lou and I were truly lucky that we didn't end up like the rest of them. I grit my teeth and willed myself to hurry up and catch up to the son of a bitch who was causing all this hurt and death.

Another explosion erupted, a nice-looking car flipping onto the sidewalk and making people flurry off in terrifying panic. My eyes darted back and forth, looking for the cause before they locked on a lone figure dressed in dark leather armor. What caught my the most was the shiny metal arm attached to the dark-haired killer, the sun glinting off of it and almost blinding me.

And then he was attacked from behind. A red-headed woman jumped him, wounding her legs tightly with a thin but deadly wire. Surprised from the unseen assault, the metal-armed man stumbled backwards until he slammed against a nearby car: that was when things got ugly for the woman.

He flipped her over his head with such superhuman strength, I was taken aback. The poor woman was thrown in the air before slamming against an SUV. As she collapsed, the man reached for his weapon and went straight for the kill.

I moved.

"_FREEZE_!" I screamed, my arms rapidly shooting up to aim at the leather-clad man.

My sudden appearance broke the focus of the shooter, when he glanced at my direction. Half of his face was obscured, but his eyes told me everything; there was nothing in the cold blue hues staring at me that said there was man in there, just a machine ruthlessly killing whatever was in its way.

"PUT YOUR WEAPON ON THE GROUND, _NOW_!" I demanded him, my voice thrown in a high pitch from the fear and adrenaline flowing through me.

I should have seen it coming when he twisted his body to turn his M203A1 towards me, but I was caught off guard when he pivoted his body. I only drew in a quick intake of breath when I'm suddenly hit with several bullets. I instantly collapsed backwards as the force of the bullets made me slam against a truck behind me. I crumbled to the ground and watched as the man was quickly sidetracked again when the red-headed woman threw something on his arm.

In an instant, there was an electrical surge and his metal arm fell limp. The woman ran off quickly, leaving the masked man to slowly recover from the small attack before he continued on his pursuit after shaking off the attack.

While that was going on, I groaned as I sat on the floor in pain. I slowly shrug off the jacket, and I looked down at the bulletproof vest wrapped tightly around my torso. I let out a huff as I extracted the jacket from my form before taking a hold of my Glock 17 pistol.

"God bless you, Lou." I muttered under my breath, shuddering at the thought if Lou hadn't insisted I wear the stupid bulletproof vest.

I struggled back to my feet, hissing at the stinging sensation of bruises no doubt beginning to form on my my abdomen and chest area from where the bullets hit me. This was going to hurt like a bitch later on when this was over, and I can only imagine just how ugly the bruises were when the vest and shirts came off.

I jumped at the sound of a gunshot going off, and with much strength I could muster, I hobbled to the direction where that masked bastard had went. It didn't take me long to spot the masked shooter, the creep sneaking along the line of cars in order to surprise the crouched (and wounded, if the red spot on her shoulder implied anything) woman that took cover behind a minivan.

Not giving the bastard a chance to hurt the woman, I shot out of my hiding spot and opened fire. Both the red-head and metal-armed man were surprised of my reappearance, but they were both moving at once. A few of my bullets ricochet of the man's arm when he used it as a shield and raised his armed weapon towards me. I quickly ducked down in time to avoid being shot at again.

I peeked over at the woman's direction and noticed the small pool of blood forming beneath her form. She looked utterly exhausted of what was going on, but she wasn't going to let the masked maniac kill her.

"Shit!" I cursed to myself. If only I could call in for back-up, maybe even get some medical aid for the injured woman and the people involved in this mayhem. However, with that maniac making every cop car explode, I couldn't risk another life on the line.

This bastard had to go down, here and now.

The barrage of bullets came until it abruptly ceased and I flinched when the sound of something powerful being slammed echoed in the air, making a ringing sensation thrum against my ears before trailing off into the quiet. I chanced a peek above the rim of the windows of the car to see the masked man was now dealing with Captain America. My relief to see one of the Avenger's in action was short-lived when the dark-haired man gave a powerful kick to Captain America's chest.

And then, they were charging at each other.

It was both amazing and frightening to watch. I've seen a couple of street brawls, bar fights, and nasty cat fights... but none of those rumbles could compare to what I was seeing with my own two eyes.

This was power of the unnatural level, like power from a hurricane coming in and destroying everything, leaving nothing but destruction at its wake. The hero and the villain were both forces of nature, and I felt I was thrown right in the middle of these two before they would collide.

The masked man whipped out a mean looking knife from the holster of his boot, spinning it briefly before diving in to gut the large blond-haired man's gut. It was a fast-paced and nail-biting experience for me to watch the two super-powered men go at each other. I would gasp when I saw the knife come a little to close to embedding itself in the flesh of the Captain, wishing that I could look away but I didn't dare do it.

My eyes widened the metal-armed killer had a tight grip around the Captain's throat, the man gasping and choking from being cut off of precious air that he even dropped his shield. With that, the masked man slammed a knee in the Captain's gut, knocking out more air and gripping him from behind the hand to slam the blond-head into his hard kneecaps. I stared in horror as Captain America stumbled back a couple of feet before he crumpled to the ground... and I was even more so horrified when he didn't get back up.

I wasn't thinking much of what I was doing, but I found myself kneeling by his side and frantically shaking his big, broad shoulders.

"No, no, no! Wake up, sir!" I pleaded to him, shaking him a little more vigorously when he wasn't responding to me. "Fuck! Please wake up!"

He only barely lifted his head, his eyelids fluttering before falling limp. I looked over my shoulder and I couldn't contain the terrified shriek to find the masked killer directly behind me with his knife in hand. I flung my hand at him and screamed when I felt the knife go through the flesh of my palm and out of the other side of my hand. I screamed once again when the knife continued to dive down until it embedded itself into my shoulder with my hand pressed against it.

I fell back over Captain America's fallen body, the knife digging deeper until it reached and the pointed end was inches away from the Captain's face. I choked at the terrifyingly painful sensation of the steel knife digging through me, and it was being pushed further in order to reach the intended target. The long hair that framed the masked man's face hung over him, creating a dark curtain as his eyes burned holes onto the person lying beneath me.

He was going to kill him. He was going to kill a hero whom I, along with many others, looked up to. I didn't believe Captain America was a fugitive because he must have had a good reason to why he did whatever he did. The government was an organization made up of liars, back-stabbers, and assholes who cared only about themselves... and I wasn't going to let them slander the Captain's name.

And I sure as hell wasn't going to let some metal-armed, masked, trigger-happy maniac kill him.

With my free hand, I grabbed the hand that held the handle of the knife, and I pushed my torso away so it wouldn't get closer to reaching the fallen Captain. I was met with a stronger force that pushed me back towards the blond man, but I twisted my body a little... if only to by some time.

It was agonizing, my shoulder was killing me and my hand was weakly trapped between the handle of the knife and my chest. If only I was stronger, I thought to myself as I felt my body being pushed closer and closer to the Captain.

"Don't fight me," came a low voice, and I whipped my head to the direction of the killer. His eyes glaring down at me. "I will kill you if you fight me."

I bared my teeth at him, angry and hurting from what he was doing.

"You may be stronger than me..." I hissed at him as he pushed me closer to Captain America. "But I'll do whatever it takes... to stop you."

He kept pushing and I kept twisting, trying to keep the Captain alive a little longer while I still could with whatever strength I had in me left.

"You're going to die." he stated, his tone chilling to the bone, but my anger and body was burning.

"Go ahead an kill me, 'cause I'm one of the people that's gonna keep coming back to stop you and every asshole who goes around hurting people for their causes!" I snapped at him.

He didn't say anymore, instead choosing to push the knife deeper into my chest and direct it towards Captain America.

I glanced over my shoulder to watch the knife begin to descend on the blond, and I was helpless to do anything. I struggled against the force, but it was futile attempt against an unnaturally strong person looming over my weak and small frame.

I screamed again... the knife that had been in my shoulder and through my palm was gone. I looked back up to find the masked man had been kicked away by a flying man who wore metal wings on his back. There was a groaning noise beneath me and I looked over my shoulder to see Captain America finally gain his consciousness and was returning to the land of the living.

He barely opened his eyes, the green-blue of his eyes unfocused before finding me, and then he was hopping back up into action—barely in time to stop a boot being slammed down on us both. With a great shove, the masked man was thrown back once more and I rolled off Captain America quickly to allow him to get back into action.

Even after a knee to the head, it was like nothing had happened. I watched weakly from the sidelines, my body tired and bleeding away. My body began to feel like a heavy weight of bricks, and I found myself lying on the asphalt road. The world around me was beginning to dim and I glanced at my hand to find a nasty, bloody knife wound before I found an equally nasty, blood knife wound on my shoulder. I heard something crack ahead of me and I looked up to see the masked man no longer masked.

In a way he looked a lot more human without the mask. Maybe that was why he wore it, it did make him seem more like a machine than a living, breathing person.

"Bucky...?" I heard Captain America's voice waver as he stared at the man with disbelief.

_'Does he know him?'_ I wondered as I watched on.

Whatever the hero was expecting, he was met with a harsh reply. "Who the hell is Bucky?"

And everything went black.


	2. do you (not) feel tired?

**Scream's Notes: **Did you guys like the first chapter? Most of the fanfics that I've read so far involving Bucky are either about another secret agent of SHIELD/HYDRA or some doctor of the medical/psychological field. I wanted to do something a little different with this story, but I must say it's probably going to fall under the cliche category in future chapters, I don't know. Anyway, thanks for the reviews that you've guys have been kind enough to leave behind and I give you another chapter for you lot to enjoy as in thanks. Remember to leave a review after you read!

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"Ho~ly shit...!" Craig Myers squinted at the iPhone in his hand.

I turned to him from the television and I already had a good idea what he was looking up. It had been all over the news and the internet media after the whole blow-out in DC.

Apparently, as all paranoia fanatics had feared, we all were being monitored under the surveillance of a super secret intelligent organization. Hah, another reason why to hate the government. It was not only an invasion of privacy on my electronic devices, but it was also a violation to mine and many people's lives. We were all being watched, spied on, and used by a system that we were suppose to depend on.

Big Brother was very much real, apparently.

And the worst part? There was another secret, and much more evil, organization that had planted moles to spy on other spies.

"This country is going down, I'm telling you..." I told Myers as I changed the channel, tired of watching CNN, Fox News, and other media departments that talked about the same issue over and over.

Myers sat between the two reclined hospital beds, having decided to keep me and Lou company since the chaotic incident that had transpired days ago on the streets had overwhelmed both me and the old veteran. Lou had suffered a small concussion from the crash but he was fine, although, his injury didn't keep him from opening his mouth to spew lectures my way. I groaned having to be stuck in the same room with the older man going on about how much of a dumbass I was.

My left arm was left in a sling since the bones from where the knife cut through had been damaged, thankfully nothing too severe to cause permanent damage. From what I was told by the nurses that took care of me and Lou, I was incredibly lucky the knife had only damaged my bones because the damn weapon had almost came close to my heart.

Very lucky indeed.

My hand and my shoulders were patched up with stitches, so I was left with boredom to wait for the doctors to give the clear that I was ready to get out of the hospital. Lou, however, would remain in the hospital. The older man wasn't as young as he used to be, and I felt bad for what had happened.

"You guys hungry?" Myers piped up as he looked between me and Lou.

"God, yes." Lou groaned. "I'd kill for a bacon cheeseburger right about now."

"Make that two." I added.

"No need."

All three of us simultaneously turned our heads to find three women standing at the doorway: Lou's family. Martha Baker, the complete opposite of her well-rounded husband, offered her husband a beautiful smile that made all the wrinkles on the older man's seemingly disappear. It was amazing to see how much love the two high school sweethearts had for each other since meeting one another in middle school. It took a lot of patience, dedication, and love to keep their relationship strong. Martha and Lou had rough patches now and then, but they loved the other too strongly to truly walk away from each other.

Dana and Kim were like young copies of their chocolate-haired, olive-skinned mother, but their hazel eyes and scowls I could see were definitely from their father (I was on the receiving end of those a lot). The three of them were carrying plastic bags as they came in close to greet the husband and father of their household.

"Apple pie?" Lou said as he looked at one of the white boxes they brought.

"Heh, of course you'd smell this a mile away." Dana, the older of the two sisters, snarked at her father and she didn't bother dodging the slap that came on her shoulder.

"Hey..."

"How've ya been, honey?" Martha asked as she took her spot on the other side of the bed, thanking Myers when he took the plastic bags from her arms so he could help Dana setting up the small meal.

I watched the small flurry of movement and interaction, and once again I was truly thankful that Lou was able to return to the loving arms of the family that was waiting for him. My eyes turned to Myers, the red-headed deputy having a fun banter with Kim as they laughed over the latest episode of some show on MTV. I turned away from the scene, feeling a bit awkward for simply being in the same room as them.

I wish I had a room for myself.

"Hey," I blinked out of my dazed staring at the wall to see young Kim standing at my bedside with a small open box of a combo meal laid out before me. "No tomatoes, onions, and pickles... right?"

"You got that right." I grinned at her before taking the box from her. "Thanks. I'll pay you back."

"Aw, don't." Martha waved a hand as she strode over to Kim's side so she could bend over and fix the blankets on my tiny frame. "It's my treat."

"Ah, I—" I tried to argue but I was silenced by Martha's look.

"_Marley Bane_, you had nearly got yourself killed. You were lucky Lou made you wear that bulletproof vest, and that bird-man—" "_Bird-man_?" "—came along to throw that man off you, and you should be very thankful that Captain America had stopped that monster from hurting you!"

I sunk back in my bed, a little afraid of the woman who seemed to have grown three sizes to tall over my form. Seeing as I wasn't going to argue with her, Martha gave a sniff before turning back to care for her husband. Everyone had been silent through the whole lecture, not daring to confront or interrupt the woman who held power and authority in the Baker house.

I turned to Lou when Martha excused herself from the room when a nurse had come to ask for her to sign some documents pertaining to the treatments her husband would be prescribed to.

"What? My mother always told me to marry a woman who kept her head on her shoulders."

"Oh really?" I quirked a brow at him. "I thought you married her because she had you whipped since day one."

The girls and Myers made a noise akin to skin being burned, and Lou swore loudly as he promised vengeance with my name on it. I ignored the old coot I called my partner and focused on my bacon cheeseburger and fries, I hummed in ecstasy as the warm cheese melted nicely against my taste buds. While I felt bad about people spending their money on me, it was truly a given to be enjoying the wonderful American cuisine of fast-food burgers that made my mouth water.

"Marley Jeanette Bane?"

We all turned to the doorway once again, a nurse looking between me and Lou before settling on me. I nodded my head to gesture that I was the owner of the name and she entered the room with a clipboard in her hands.

"I'm here to do a quick check-up." she explained as she rolled up the sleeve of my shirt to reveal the heavily bandaged shoulder that had tints of blood going through.

Like the last procedure from yesterday, I was asked to inform the nurse of how far I could lift my arm and which spots hurt the most. The nurse made quick notes and looked back to me with a small smile, she was probably glad I wasn't some cranky, unreasonable, and intolerable patient she had to deal with.

"So, what's the deal?" I asked her as I pointed at the clipboard.

Myers stepped up to join the nurse's side, a flirtatious smile spread across his lips. "Yeah, how long does she have to live?"

"Myers, get lost!" I playfully slapped his hand that was resting on the rails of my bed.

"The bad news is: you'll have to be on medical leave from the police department." the nurse said as she cleared her throat to regain composure.

"Figures." I muttered.

"Ah, you could always stick to desk work." Lou suggested and he was met with an awful look aimed at his direction. "What?"

"Good news is: you can check yourself out of the hospital tomorrow afternoon." the nurse chirped, trying to lighten my downcast mood.

The news actually helped me feel a lot better, and I grinned at Lou as I was finally proclaimed fit enough to leave the hospital grounds. This time, I was on the receiving end of an ugly look.

"I'll be sure to send you some food from the outside." I told the old veteran with a smug look plastered on my face.

"Just you wait, you little brat...!" Lou glowered at me like an aggravated bulldog.

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As promised from the nurse, I was released around the early afternoon. After being instructed what to do in dealing with my injuries, I was given lessons on what I could and could not do with my injured shoulder. With bandages and gauze wrapped around my shoulder and my hand, I began the long walk home (I didn't want to take a taxi). I didn't have to go to the department since Myers already went ahead to get the request of mine and Lou's medical leave.

I was, however, invited to attend to the funeral of the five men and women who were killed in action. My feet led me off to nowhere in particular... and it wasn't long when I came upon a familiar street.

The streets were cleaned up nicely, but I could see scorch marks and riddled bullet holes here and there. I paused when I saw colorful ribbons places near an electrical pole and I felt my insides fall when I realized it was being served as a memorial.

It wasn't just the cops that lost their lives, there had been civilian casualties that got themselves caught in the ensuing fight between agents of HYDRA and Captain America's three-man company.

Feeling a bit uneasy in the stomach, I hurried past the grieving people who gathered around the little memorials and headed straight for home. Earlier I had been excited to just simply leave the clutches of the sterile-clean hospitals... now I was too damn tired to lift my legs. I went down the road but stopped myself short when I realized where I was going.

Call me morbid and a bit twisted, but I went ahead towards the direction of the street. Seeing that there was no cars coming any time soon to squash me, I stepped off the sidewalk and inspected the asphalt road carefully.

It didn't take me long to spot a dark brown splattered stain painted on the dark road.

This was where the unit found me after I had lost consciousness from blood loss and exhaustion. I was lying in the middle of the street while Captain America and the HYDRA assassin duke'd it out with each other. There was a lot of blood, I noted as I stared at the spot.

I knew since the beginning that there would be danger for me should I become a cop, but I had willed myself to continue on. There was people who needed help, people who were helpless, and people who needed to be saved... whether they knew that or not.

During the academy, I underwent extensive training to shape myself to become ready when the worst would rear it's ugly face on the streets... but it was an unsettling realization that I was up against something so overwhelming and bigger than I was. It was bad enough I was ridiculed for being too small and too empathetic. I remembered someone once telling me straight to my face that I wasn't going to last in my first real fight...

I almost didn't make it. Twice I had been nearly killed, but twice luck had saved my life... and the third time a man with metal wings and literally swooped in to save the day.

I couldn't resist the need to press a hand against my injured shoulder, my fingers digging through my shirt so I could feel a flare of pain throb from my injury. I winced at the pain.

Good, I thought as I stared at the dark brown spot, it meant that I was here and that I was alive.

I was alive and I would live on to continue my work to save and protect people. I hadn't been bluffing when I told the assassin my piece, and I wasn't saying those words because it was just a spur of the moment; I truly felt that way.

I was suddenly overcome with the feeling of being watched. Curiously, I looked around but found no one really stopping to stare my way. A couple of people walked by here and there, but I saw no one actually standing there and looking at me like some sort of stalker.

"I swear to God if it's that Big Brother thing again..." I muttered under my breath. I shook off the feeling and crossed the rest of the street when I saw a car started to come my direction.

It took awhile, especially since I didn't take a cab, but I eventually reached my apartment. Climbing up a few flight of stairs to reach the third floor, I searched for my hidden key before entering inside my small but comfy home.

"I'm home," I said to no one.

I closed the door behind me before dragging my feet to the nearest furniture. I flopped down on the sofa and simply laid there. I felt completely tired after the long walk from the hospital and my thoughts were still flashing back to the events that took place.

It was great that everything was settled: Captain America was no longer a fugitive, HYDRA had been destroyed, and the digital global surveillance of the frightening kind was being dealt with...

"What a day..." I muttered before turning over on the sofa to hopefully get some shut eyes.

* * *

I twitched in my sleep.

It took me a few minutes to realize that I wasn't sleeping and I was actually waking up. Giving a quiet sigh, I lifted my head up and looked around. Everything was completely dark, and I could hear the faint sounds of cars rolling by from outside my window. Licking my dry, chapped lips, I began to move to get up off the sofa and head for my bedroom—

There was someone in my kitchen.

I froze, staring at the darkness of my kitchen where a pitch black figure shifted around in my kitchen... and they were probably unaware that I was awake. I slowly ducked down under the cover of the sofa and quickly calculated and calmly as I could.

It was most likely a burglar and they were raiding in my kitchen for food to take back on the way from their little heist. It was probably the first time for them stealing, or this thief was sloppy and thought he could get away with a sandwich. I looked at my bedroom and cursed to myself, why couldn't I have fallen asleep in the room? My gun was in the bedroom!

I stilled when I heard footsteps head towards my direction.

I laid flat down on the surface of the sofa and played dead. My heart was racing when the person came to close proximity to my seemingly sleeping form, but I inhaled and exhaled slowly. I could feel and hear the person walk around the sofa until they came to my right side, and I felt chills when I could feel holes being burned on my back.

I couldn't take any chances of this guy getting a hit on me: I had to act.

I surprised the burglar with a single sweep of leg coming in contact with their leg. The person gave a shout and fell to the floor. Not wasting any time, I hopped over the sofa, hissing in pain from the sharp sting that reverberated from my shoulder, but I ran straight for the bedroom.

While I had counted on the element of surprise, I had not counted on the guy recovering quickly.

Before I could open the door wide enough to enter through, I was slammed from behind. I let out a grunt as the person and I fell on the floor, and I groaned from the impact.

"Ow, fuck that hurt...!" I whimpered as my arm and palm were throbbing.

"Stop." the person lying over me commanded. If it hadn't been obvious from the large frame, the heavy weight, and the voice that just spoke up, it was a man.

"You're not gonna get away with this," I told the thief. "I don't look it, but I'm a cop!"

I hoped that would have made the thief get up and bolt out of whatever sneaky entrance he found his way in through. However, the person still squishing my tiny body with his bigger one remained where he was.

"Yeah," the guy said. "I know."

_'Oh, crap.'_ I thought with growing horror. _'This guy is probably a crazy cop killer.'_

And I had just got out of the hospital not too long ago, too!

"Get off me," I wheezed as my lungs were being crushed. "I can't _breathe_...!"

Surprisingly, the man climbed off of my, if only to stand on all fours over me. I coughed a little before I felt hands take hold of my shoulder and force me up. I let out a yelp when a strong grip had dug into my injured shoulder.

"Ow! You asshole, it's bad enough to steal from my home, but did you have to attack me?!"

He said nothing but loosened his grip on my injured shoulder. It didn't matter though, I could feel blood coming out of my shoulder. I groaned as I was led away from my room and back to the sofa. I was forced to sit down on the sofa I was up to and I didn't move when the man released my other shoulder. The person walked around me before he was facing me, and once again, I felt my insides freeze up.

I was staring straight at the man who put me in the hospital: the Winter Soldier of HYDRA.

"Oh, shit."


	3. do you (not) feel worried?

**Scream's Notes: **Wow! So many reviews! Well, here's another chapter for you guys because you're all being sweethearts to me and my character, Marley. I am so utterly glad that she isn't some Mary Sue to you, and I will try to continue the rhythm where this story is going. Thanks again and remember to leave a review after you read just because!

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It would have made quite the scene had someone entered in my home to find me and the ultra HYDRA assassin snacking on grilled cheese sandwiches at three in the morning. I felt like I had been dropped into a movie setting where I was in some ridiculous scene with a villain, and the two of us were just settled down and not doing anything to kill the other.

Basically, I felt awkward the whole time.

Feeling the need to keep myself busy, I reached down for my grilled cheese and bit into it while staring at a wall in a stupefied daze. I was still trying to come to grips over the fact that the maniac who came into my town with guns blazing was sitting not two feet away from me, and said maniac was munching on the snack I made us both in silence.

And I thought the world was strange enough with aliens invading New York.

"Hey," I blinked out of my stupor and turned to face the intruder was looking at me dead in the eyes.

"Huh?"

He nodded his head towards the second grill cheese sandwich in my plate. Knowing what he wanted, I wordlessly pushed my plate towards him and watched as he immediately helped himself to a free snack. I watched him a little closely and noticed the small blissful look on his face when he bit into the meager bread and cheese, for he looked like he hadn't had a decent meal in so long. Not feeling all that hungry suddenly, I dumped my barely eaten sandwich into his plate.

I settled back in my chair but gave a glance to the clock set in my living room. I was beginning to feel tired again, and I wanted to go to sleep.

Nearly forgetting the extra person in my kitchen, I stood up from my chair.

I flinched when I heard a chair scrape harshly against the floor and I whipped around to see the man on his feet with the grilled cheese sandwich abandoned on the table.

"Where are you going?" he demanded, his blissful face replaced by an expression I had seen him wear when he had been staring down at me while he plunged his knife into my skin.

Shaking off the tremors of the memory, I give a heavy sigh and waved at the table. "I don't exactly plan on falling asleep here. So, good night."

With that, I turned my back on him (which wasn't a great idea) and headed straight for my bedroom. As I thought, I could hear him trailing after me. I flipped off the light switch of the kitchen on the way out and went straight for my bedroom. The guy also followed me to my room, and it was felt so very uncomfortable to feel the bastard standing so close to me. Seeing as there was no way out of this, I headed straight for the closet and slid the sliding door away.

Up on the corner left of the closet shelf was a lime green box... and inside was my Glock 42. I reached my hand up to the shelf—and pulled out the heavy quilted blankets. The damn heavy material nearly squashed me when I pulled them out, but I managed to survive, somehow. The man quietly observed these actions, his suspicion on high alert.

There really was no way out of this sticky situation without getting myself killed, so I had to make do with what I could get away with. After I completed the task of creating a make-shift bed next to my twin bed frame, I looked over to the ever silent figure standing in my dark room.

"_Well_?" I said as I threw one of my pillows on the floor on the blankets. "That good enough for you?"

Not surprisingly, he said nothing and continued to stand there like some creep of a statue. Seeing as there would be no more talking, I climbed on my own bed and settled in. It was a good thing I was only wearing sweatpants because I hated sleeping in my jeans... they weren't comfortable to wear to bed.

It didn't take much coaxing for me to fall fast asleep. Figured I'll deal with this craziness in the bright morning, or hopefully the assassin would decide to split and would be gone by then...

I can only hope.

* * *

I groggily became away that I was waking up, and my room was painted an orange-like glow. Letting out a sigh of grogginess, I flipped off the covers of the bed and sat on the edge of my bed.

_'Bathroom, then breakfast.'_

I made my way for the semi-open door that led to my bathroom to do my business, brush my teeth, and head into the kitchen for some Honey Brunches cereal.

Several minutes later, I'm in the kitchen and dumping cereal in my porcelain bowl when something loud came from my bedroom. I stared at the corner where it lead through the hallway to my bedroom, and there was the sound of hurried footsteps coming out and towards the small living room...

The events from last night decided to come back to me like a tons of bricks falling from the roof of someone's house. I nearly dropped the cereal box in shock when the same man from before appeared. He was making a quick exit to my front door until he craned his neck towards the direction of the kitchen and immediately halted in his tracks.

We both stared at each other for a long moment in awkward silence.

The man's long brown locks were as haggard-looking as mine were but his face was fully awake and looking a little flustered. It didn't take me long to know what had been going on in his mind when he had woken up, and frankly, I probably should have done those things had my stupid brain remembered there was a HYDRA agent sleeping on the floor next to my bed.

Simply put, when that metal-armed man woke up to find me gone, he thought I had escaped and was probably either going to hunt me down or make a run for it.

Instead, I was in my crummy kitchen about to eat cereal.

I began to thunk my forehead against the surface of the table repeatedly, cursing myself stupidity for my slow brain activity in the early mornings.

If a story like this somehow found its way to the boys back at the department, I was going to be the laughing stock of all precincts.

A knock the door startled me. Simultaneously, me and the assassin looked at the wooden door and I almost choked on my own saliva when the guy pulled out my_ fucking gun out of his waistband_!

"Dude, what the fuck?!" I demanded in a low tone as I shot to my feet.

"Marley?" came a muffled voice through the door. "Are you alright?"

He looked between the door and me, his face turning sour as he narrowed his bright eyes in my direction.

"_Who is that_?!" he growled as he pointed a gun at the door. "A police officer?"

I opened my mouth to tell him off, and I was about ready to risk my life again by tackling the son of a bitch that not only invaded my house but stole my gun when there was a persistent knocking on the door.

"Marley? It's me, Laurie... Do you need help?"

Laurie Montgomery, an Australian having moved over to the States three years ago, was sharing an apartment with her college classmate/best friend. They lived two doors down, and they were wonderful neighbors. Although, they were a bit tight on money at the moment since Trisha, Laurie's roommate, had sort of fallen in a state of depression after quitting her job at the art studio. Her boyfriend, the manager of said art studio, turned out to be a married man.

"Put that gun away before you hurt someone!" I snapped at him.

"Who. Is. That?" he growled at me, still aiming the weapon at the door.

"That's my neighbor, you ass!" I hissed. "Now put the fucking gun away, or I'll make a scene. Believe me when I say people will be calling the cops faster than you can reload!"

We were having an eye-to-eye stand-off. He was still frightening as I had seen him the first time, but I couldn't let him get away so easily. He had to answer for what he had done. I would be damned to allow him to kill anymore innocent people.

"Marley?" Laurie's voice broke through again. "You awake?"

Slowly, he lowered the gun. He didn't let go of it, however. Giving one last look at the door, he flashed his eyes to me.

"Get rid of her." he ordered as he stepped away from me.

"Just a minute, Laurie!" I said with a loud and clear voice. "I'm just pulling on my sling.

Yeah right, I kept the damn thing on me the whole time.

I quickly head to the kitchen to find the jug of milk, and I struggled to get the door open since I could only do so much with one hand. After a few seconds of unlocking the damn door, I swing it open.

A plump but beautiful young woman stood on the other side with a small glass measuring cup in her hand. Her long blond hair was pulled up in a messy bun while she wore nothing but a T-shirt that had bold words of "Girl Power" and dark green jersey shorts.

"Hullo..." Laurie greeted me with a small hint of uncertainty in her tone.

"Ah, sorry," I shrugged apologetically. "I was on the phone when you knocked. The punk on the other line really needed to say his piece, and well..."

"As long as you're okay, mate." Laurie said with a shrug of her own. "Do you need some help or...?"

"I'm good!" I shook my head. "Well, here's the milk!"

I simply handed over the jug of milk, leaving the Aussie to sputter in bafflement before I greeted her with another "good morning" until I finally closed the door. I pulled away from the door and turned to my silent spectator.

I started to head straight for him with every intent to find a way to peacefully get him out of my home (and somehow throw him behind bars in the process, if possible) when the door behind me opened. I felt like I had lost the ability to breathe when the man in front of me stilled like a picture. I whipped around to find Laurie standing awkwardly at the door, her eyes looking past my head then to my eyes.

"Laurie!" I choked as I backed away from her and towards the man behind me. When I succeeding in reaching him, I placed a hand around his wrist and squeezed like a motherfucking vice!

The blond lifted up the jug of milk. A coy smile appeared on the girl's feature as she closed the door behind her and made her way towards my kitchen. Laurie was a great person, but she was sometimes a bit too nosy and often tried to make herself home after knowing someone within a two week span.

"I didn't need the whole thing, ya know." she snorted at me and turned her eyes on my uninvited guest. "Who's this fella?"

I could feel the guy begin to move and I tightened my hold a little more. I swallowed thickly as my eyes rapidly moved around the area to try and come up with an identity and back story for the guy behind me in five seconds flat. My eyes caught onto something bright, and I saw an empty box of Jimmy Dean's breakfast sandwich sitting within a trashcan.

"Jimmy!" I exclaimed loudly, but cleared my throat. "H-his name is Jimmy."

"Hey, Jimmy." Laurie gave a little way at him as she closed the fridge.

"Jimmy" remained silent.

"He, uh, got in a nasty fight with his girlfriend... and she kicked him out." I began to weave on a lie that was akin to one of Myers' stories with his last girlfriend. "Myers sent him my way, so..."

"You seriously need to stop lettin' that drongo throw these things out on ya," she turned to the man behind me. "No offense, mate."

I felt a small movement, but thankfully nothing to violent or whatever because Laurie smiled before she returned to me.

"Ah, I couldn't have the heart in me to turn this poor guy away..." I clapped a hand on the assassin's non-metal bicep.

"Oh, well, I better go." Laurie pointed at the door. "Be seein' ya around, Jimmy! Oh and don't get broken over a bad relationship, it'll get better. In fact, I have this friend who—"

"Bye, Laurie!" I forced out as I went to the plump woman to help escort her way out of my apartment. The blond had the nerve to giggle at my flustered appearance until I finally closed the door behind her.

I slumped against the door after I had locked it (I wasn't taking anymore chances again after that) and allowed a long breath to exhale from my lips.

God, this morning sucked.

I turned around to face the man standing in my living room. It was a good thing he was wearing a sweater he had donned up when he was heading out of the room, otherwise there could have been hell had Laurie seen him.

Enough was enough.

"Okay then, _Jimmy_," I began as I pushed away from the door. "Why don't we start talking about as to why I found you in my kitchen in the middle of the goddamn night?"


	4. do you (not) feel frustrated?

**Scream's Notes: **Sorry that is a shorter chapter than most (in fact, I just realized all the chapters I've posted thus far are short). I was kind of losing steam on this because I really want to move it up to the exciting parts, but I just feel like I need to deal with some things first: the tension between Bucky and Marley. In most fics that I've read so far, the character and Bucky get along almost instantly... I wanna prolong that. It just kind of bugs me when an author's character does that. Anyway, here's another chapter with more Marley and Bucky, enjoy!

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James Buchanan Barnes, assuming that was his true identity to begin with, had slipped away from Washington DC without tripping off any alerts. It had been easier before with HYDRA being able to take him in and provide him shelter from the search lights of SHIELD, but now things were a lot harder. Both organizations were looking for him, and he knew for certain things were going to be a lot harder than before with those two places looking through the cracks and crevices of where he could be possibly hiding.

Safe houses and hotels were out of the question, so he had to find a new base for himself that had nothing to do with his former affiliation.

A few days after he left Washington, Barnes had come across a familiar sight: the first time he fought Steve Rogers and caught himself wondering about him.

He could still remember the look of disbelief of Rogers' face, his skin gone pale when he stared at Barnes as if he had seen a ghost from the past. Barnes had only hesitated before he tried to gun down his supposedly former best friend but ended up being knocked down by that Sam Wilson guy.

He walked along the road, replaying the seen under the safety of his cap and sweater as he strolled along the sidewalk. Something caught the peripheral of his vision, and he looked up to see a familiar figure standing in the middle of the road.

The little police girl.

The girl was so ridiculously tiny it made her seem younger than sixteen years old. The last time he had seen her, her blond hair had been pinned up in a messy bun, now her hair cascaded down until it reached her shoulder blades. Not seeing her in the black police uniform with a vest wrapped tightly around her, she was wearing a T-shirt and sweatpants that seemed bigger than her little frame. Her one arm was in a sling with the palm of her hand bandaged from the knife wound he inflicted on her when trying to gouge Captain America's eyes out.

She was staring at something. He looked at the asphalt road to find dark stains of blood, and if he recalled right, this was where she was bleeding out after Wilson kicked him off her and Rogers.

_'Why did she even try to begin with?'_ he wondered as he saw her touch her injured shoulder. _'She knew she couldn't do anything about it.'_

He was looming over her with his knife digging beyond the flesh of her palm and shoulder, pushing it to reach Rogers, but the damn police girl struggled to make it almost impossible for him to direct it straightforward. He pressed his weight on her to keep her still, but even then, she still made things difficult for him.

He was so close to simply grabbing her by the neck and squeezing the life out her and watch it leave her eyes... but something made him resist the urge.

Why did this little pest try fighting against something bigger than her? A flash of blue-steel eyes glared up at him with a fierceness as she used herself to shield the Captain, flecks of her blood staining her skin as the warm liquid escaped from around the knife.

_"You may be stronger than me, but I'll do whatever it takes to stop you!"_

When the little police girl started to head off in another direction, Barnes found himself following after her. He kept a safe distance, familiar with the routine of trailing after a target—but she was not a target. She was not another target to isolate from the crowds and kill them silently in the dark It took awhile but she reached her destination: an apartment building.

* * *

I blinked. Twice. Three times. And then—

"That's it? That's all you have to say after coming in here outta nowhere?! _You just saw me_?!"

Ignoring my flailing of the single limb, the dark-haired assassin drank away the rest of his glass cup of water. I was tempted to slap the damn class out of his hand, but I knew that was impossible because one: that guy had reflexes like a spider, and two: that was my glass cup. Gritting my teeth in frustration, I calculated the odds of getting his ass out of my apartment without any fatal casualties, and I could already see that the stakes were pretty high against me.

"Listen here," I began as I gave him a pointed look. "You not planning anything, are you? No bombs, no killing sprees, no nothing... Right?!"

"Do you have anymore weapons around here?" he completely ignored my questions and looked around my apartment.

"_HEY_! DON'T SCREW AROUND! I'M ASKING THE QUESTIONS HERE, AND YOU BETTER GODDAMN ANSWER THEM, OR ELSE!" I gave a shrilling lecture as I slammed a hand on the table to show I wasn't messing around.

… and it took only a few seconds to realize that the hand I slammed down was my injured one.

"Ooooooowwww...!" I choked out as I sunk on my chair until I was eventually lying on the tiled kitchen floors.

"How long are you on medical leave?" came another question.

"Why... do you... need to know...?" I wheezed out as I nursed my injured hand.

Like all the times since I've known him for a short period of time, the bastard remained tight-lipped. With nothing more to do with me at the moment, he stood up from the table and headed off into the hallway. I, however, remained in the fetal position on the floor, still crying over my arm.

"Ooh, just you wait you bastard..." I cursed the HYDRA agent.

Somehow I was going to cuff his ass, Rodeo-style! And maybe after all was said and done with putting that bastard in a Federal prison, I would get a big promotion out of this. Afterward, I'll be getting golden medals for my hard work with Captain America pinning said medals on my pristine black uniform.

That would actually make my day if that were to happen for real.

For now, I had to work out the first stages on how to take this bastard out by surprise. I may be eager for a promotion and a little attention by being the person who caught the Winter Soldier, but even I knew I had to work around the kinks and cogs on how to get him trapped in the first place. It was like trying to catch an overgrown lion without nets!

_'Maybe...'_ I thought as I saw him walk on by, pausing long enough to give me his blank look from where I laid on the floor, before moving to the living room. _'Just maybe.'_

It was going to take some deep levels of undercover... that wasn't so undercover, but if I tried hard enough and pushed the right buttons... there was a chance I could take him down after all. It would take time, a lot of skill, and much luck, but I was going to try.

The Winter Soldier had to answer for the crimes he committed. I was a police officer, and it was my job to protect people and stop others from hurting innocents.

"Hey," I jumped from the sound of his voice. He was standing at the entrance of the kitchen and looking down at me (which made me scowl up at him, I was already short enough as it was). "How long do you plan on lying there like road kill?"

"Bite me, Terminator!" I snapped back.

That promotion with Captain America giving me medals had better be worth all the sass I was getting from this bastard...


	5. do you (not) feel afraid?

**Scream's Notes: **Exams are just crazy this semester! Oh, my God... I'm so tired I just want to drop dead and sleep the day away without worries. Ugh...! Anyway, an update on this particular story for all of you followers who love this. This little fandom is growing and growing bigger, I mean seriously: have you guys seen Tumblr lately? It's filled with nothing but Bucky and Sebastian Stan (not that I don't mind), but it's crazy! Anyhoo, I will leave this little chapter to you guys. Remember to leave a review from the bottom of your hearts!

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"Okay, let me get this straight, and stop me if I get something wrong," I held up one hand like I was trying to push away this onslaught of craziness the man kept throwing my way. "You want to use this medical leave as an opportunity to enlist me to help you, through the resources of my precinct, to a goal of which you are not willing to relay with me. Did I miss anything?"

He just gave me another blank look. I was beginning to hate that.

"Dude, I can't just do that!" I told him flat out, not wanting to beat around the bush because I felt I would get a gun to my head if I tried to lie or do something really stupid. "Besides that, I'm not gonna end up like another one of HYDRA's puppets! Do you have any idea what's happening right now?"

The look he gave me looked between curious and uncaring. I decided I might as well go ahead and tell him because I was beginning to suspect he must have been too busy (I shudder from what business he must have been up to after DC) to take notice what had happened after everything had been uprooted and unveiled before our eyes.

"Your little company has been around since the beginning of WWII, and it's been causing all this political dilemma that's been going on under our very noses—"

"I know," he muttered, his fingers digging into the leather of my recliner chair.

"Then you must also know how HYDRA's been inside SHIELD the whole time, using all digital maintenance to gather a hit list on all potential threats—"

"I know." he roughly bit out, his eyes glaring at me from the dark curtains of his hair that began to shadow his face.

"That's great! So that means you also know about your organization being everywhere—"

"_I KNOW_!" he shouted at me, and I almost fell back when he quickly leaned his torso towards my direction. It was a scare tactic, and it worked, but I wasn't finished.

"Then that means there could be cops in HYDRA!" I shouted back at him, wincing when my high pitch came in.

This made him pause, a dawning realization coming to his features. Did he seriously not know that this had been happening? Ever since that had come out, people would glance at each other warily as if expecting them to be a sleeper agent. Even I was becoming very suspicious of being around my co-workers. It only made it worse when the squad that had picked up Captain America and his two companions hadn't been cops at all, and that's when there was a conducted search going on. Lou and I were in the clear because of our (failed) actions to take down the Winter Soldier and his gang of HYDRA agents.

There was eyes and ears, ears and snipers being aimed at the back of your head through a scope.

Ignorance truly was bliss. Just a few months ago, I was amongst the many billions of people who thought that what had happened to New York would be the last thing something impossible would ever happen. Humanity once again received a grim reminder that not all was well in the world, and this was far from over; in fact, this was just the beginning of a new, strange world.

And it wasn't just New York, there was also the incident that took place outside of London just last year. A huge ship appearing out of thin air where it sat below giant circles that were aligning together before dark red bursts of a cloudy entity began to encircle around a university campus. It was only by pure luck that one of the Avengers, Thor, had arrived in time to stop all the craziness from escalating.

The point was: there were far bigger things happening beyond the realm of psychotic killers and burglars.

The man gave me a look over and then turned towards the direction of my room. After a while, he turned back towards me with an indifferent look on his face.

"You're going to help me, either way." he told me with a matter-of-fact tone. It took all of my being not to shout a "_fuck you_!" his way.

I only replied with a sarcastic snort.

"You are." he glowered at me, his fingers clenching. "You are going to help me because you know just how capable I am of getting what I want."

That got my attention.

He continued on. "You know I can. You've heard how many people I've killed to get the information, and you _know_ what I'll do to get what I want."

I sat straight in my chair. My spine was full of chills hears his gravely voice describe to me what he would do... and how he would do it.

I can imagine him sneaking into buildings, catching people unawares and slitting their throats open to leave them to bleed dry. I can see him using silent guns taking out people quietly while he looks around for files and download data through whatever USB he was carrying.

All I could see was the Winter Soldier killing left and right, and no one would there to stop him.

"Everybody will find out eventually what I did, and I'll be out in the open... but there won't be a Captain America to save anyone from me." he drawled out as he leaned back in chair. "Everyone will be too busy drowning in their own blood, but I'll eventually get what I want."

I suddenly noticed I was breathing heavily through the nose, and my mind whirled around nauseously as he explicitly went on and on about how he was going to do this. I know for sure he would follow through with his threat, that he would kill anyone in the way of his search for whatever he was looking for.

He was basically telling me that the road to what he was looking for would be a lot less bloody if I made it easier for him to get access to anything he wanted.

This was like my worst nightmare. I barely been a cop for just a few short months and already I was forced to work against the law. My insides twisted at the thought of working with this killer, letting this fuck get away while I opened up new pathways for him while helping him avoid exposure.

Never had I been so angry in my whole life.

The room was quiet. He didn't have to say anymore because he knew I was going to crumble and comply to his wants and needs. He knew I was going to have to work behind my friends and co-workers backs to do whatever tasks he would set up on me.

"You're going to help me, Officer Marley." he said with finality.

My body trembled with rage.

"One day," I said with a low and seething rage reverberating from my chest as I looked up into his cold, cold eyes. "I'm going to be the one who's going to walk you into a special, isolated cell. You will never see daylight again, you will slowly forget the sights and sounds of the world, and the only human contact you'll have is a fucking mirror. Slowly, you're mind's gonna lose itself when time goes by, and there will be nothing and no one to tell you that you're not a ghost doomed to wander around in the small, dark cell for the rest of all eternity until you finally, truly die—"

A small, high-pitched gasp escaped from me when something cold wrapped itself around my exposed and vulnerable neck. His metal fingers were simply resting around my neck, but the threat to kill me by strangulation hung in the air. It was all so fast, I barely realized he even moved. I was too angry to pay attention and now I was walking along the thin line of life and death.

I dared myself to look him in the eyes, and I found myself being stared down by his frosty blue eyes that chilled my entire being. I would be a big liar if I said I didn't feel scared shitless. I felt I was suffocating from his close proximity, his bulky frame beneath the sweater he wore said all that much just how easily he could take me out without trying.

I wouldn't even have time to scream.

There was no walls, no cars, no barriers between me and him. I was totally exposed to him, and I was at his very mercy.

After a long, heart-racing amount of time, his metallic fingers slipped away from my neck. I felt goosebumps rise when his fingers slid away from my warm-blooded skin. He raised the very same hand to my face, a single digit pointed straight at me like parody of a parent chastising their child.

"That was a warning," he told me, his lips drawn on a thin line like he was restraining himself as best he could.

I was so tempted to say something witty, but I didn't want end up with a broken neck just because I wanted to get the last word.

He pulled away from me but our eyes remained locked with on another. He gave me a once over before he nodded to my bedroom.

"Go and get ready." he ordered me.

If my death glare could, he would be nothing more but a pile of ash.

I climbed up out of the sofa and turned away from him. I could feel his eyes watching my back as I retreated into my room and closed it sharply behind me. I scanned my room as I gathered my clothes for the day. There was the phone, and it would have been pretty easy for me to call for back-up... but I knew I couldn't. The phone must be disabled somehow, so there was no way for me to call for help, and there was the fact that people were always listening in the lines...

And I didn't want to have the wrong people in my doorstep with guns pointing at me, thank you very much.

Gathering my blue jeans, dark brown shirt with spaghetti straps, and undergarments, I went inside the bathroom and proceeded to do as was ordered... much to my distaste.

* * *

It's quite a challenge to do everything with only one hand. The blood from last night was pretty sticky and clung to the bandages like glue, so it was a bitch to deal with. Once I was dressed and bandaged, I looked at the semi-foggy mirror of my bathroom and gave a look to my damp hair.

There wasn't much I could do to pull it up in a bun or ponytail, my arm would hurt if I so much as lifted it. Giving it a quick brush and using a clip to keep the bangs away from my eyes, I exited the bathroom.

I halted abruptly to find the assassin sitting on my bed, his elbows resting on his knees as his fingers were clasped together. He looked up from where was staring at the floor towards me. He stood up from the bed and reached into his pocket before he revealed it to me.

My ID and badge.

"_What the hell_?! You went through my belongings?!" I snarled at him as I swiped the items out of his open palm.

He ignored my cursing and threw one of my sweater jackets at my head. It was my favorite maroon-colored sweater with the fading number print "22" on it. I struggled at taking the cloth off my face, but I was forced to walk forward when my uninjured wrist was grabbed and pulled forward.

"Hey!" my muffled voice protested but was largely ignored.

I finally managed to pull off the sweater from my face to see just in time that we were outside of my apartment and about to descend down the flight of stairs. I also noticed my companion was sporting a baseball cap and hoodie, obscuring his features enough for everyone to not care about strangers walking in the crowds.

Immediately when we got to ground floor, the man released his strong grip on my wrist and moved it around my shoulder. It was a move that seemed casual, like two people taking a walk around the block instead of a hostage and an assassin walking amongst the ignorant bystanders.

"Walk," was his brisk order.

I scowled at him but matched his pace none the less.

After walking a couple of blocks without any idea what I was suppose to do, I looked over my shoulder and my front before turning my head towards him.

"What are we doing?" I asked him quietly.

He gave his own quick scan, his paranoia going on overdrive when he eyed the people walking past us. Spotting a lonely payphone, he gestured me to follow him until we were crowding around the telephone booth. After another subtle glance around, he opened the booth and pushed me inside. He remained outside and leaned in close so only I could hear his voice.

"Take a look in the phone book and look for any local libraries."

I stood there awkwardly for a moment, an unsure look plastered on my face.

"What?" he snapped at me.

"You're not gonna bomb a library, are you?" I asked him.

My only response was a rough push inside the booth where he joined me, slamming the folded door behind him closed. He immediately went to work on looking through the addresses before he shoved the thick book into my chest without so much as a word of warning.

"Be gentle! I'm injured for Christ's sake!" I hissed up at him, getting quickly riled up from the asshole's manhandling.

He said nothing more. No surprise there.


	6. do you (not) feel used?

**Scream's Notes: **It's been awhile, I know, but I'm here. Just another week and I'll be probably be updating more and more of this fic (along with other fics). But be forewarned, me and my family might end up going a trip to somewhere and I won't be here update on this or some other favorites. Back to the point of this silly note, please leave a review after you've read this; also, don't be afraid to leave behind what you guys think. Why? Well, I've been going through Tumblr, you see, and there's been a lot of Sebastian Stan aka Winter Soldier on my dash, and there's always these things how people analyze what's going on in the Winter Soldier/Bucky's head. I've decided to do some experimenting in that area, so let me know if I'm doing it right! Thank you and enjoy!

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"So, uh, what brings you to the library, Officer Bane?" a lanky, blond-haired young man asked as he walked along side me and my silent companion.

It had been an hour since I was forcefully taken out of my apartment to join the brooding agent in a mysterious search around the local libraries. Making a few discreet calls ("They're always listening, Marley," came the man's quiet warning.), we both decided to check out the first library that seemed to hold some extensive archives regarding historical events.

"Confidential police business." I stated with a hint of authority, although the guy didn't seem off-put by the words (probably because nobody took a five foot shorty seriously).

Instead of leaving it alone, his eyes widened with intrigue. "Seriously?"

His exclamation was so loud that we were suddenly at the receiving end of a few open stares. I could practically feel the Winter Soldier tense up from all the eyes looking at us, and I knew for certain his level of paranoia was riding on dangerous levels.

Not to mention, he still held my gun hostage.

Hoping to salvage the situation quickly before it got out of hand, I snapped my arm up and clutched the lanky boy's shoulder before ushering him quickly ahead to escape all the eyes staring at us. I heard the assassin following after my lead silently.

"Will you please hush up?" I hissed at him. "We're in a library!"

"S-sorry, officer." the kid stuttered.

I let go of his shoulder and waved at the direction ahead of us. "Just get us to where we need to be, okay?"

"Yeah, sorry."

We continued down the huge corridors in silence, the only sound we made was the clicking and squeaking of our shoes. The further we walked into the library, the more I noticed it began to grow more secluded from the rest of the people who were browsing through the many shelves the establishment provided. My ears perked at the sound of something small jingling, and I looked back to find the teen holding a ring of keys as we approached wooden double doors.

"This isn't open to the public?" I wondered out loud.

"No," the blond shook his head as he shuffled through the keys. "The manager was pretty firm about not letting, and I quote, "a bunch of Neanderthals screwing around with important documentaries of man's greatest feats"."

It was common to have a bunch of idiotic people draw and write vulgar stuff in library books, but that manager was talking things like graffiti a bit too far.

"Here we go," the boy cheerfully found the key he was looking for and unlocked the door for us. "All yours, officers!"

"He's not an officer." my mouth automatically replied, and I winced at the small mistake. I could feel the Winter Soldier glaring at the back of my head, and if I concentrated hard enough, I could almost feel him pointing a gun, too.

"Oh, uh," the teen turned to the silent metal-armed man. "Who are you?"

I acted quickly before the HYDRA agent made any moves to silent the boy he was beginning to perceive as a potential threat to his agenda.

"This is Jimmy," I waved my hand at the assassin, recalling the name I gave him back at the apartment. "He's an expert on what we're looking for. My department had called in some of the local universities to gain some insight on what we're dealing with, but the professors recommended Jimmy."

"Oh, that's cool." the teen looked at the silent man with interest.

"Alright," I nodded at the blond. "Thanks for the help."

"Yancy." the teen introduced himself with a grin. "You can call me Yancy."

"Okay, Yancy. Thanks for the help." I told him.

"Call me if you need anything, Officer Bane." he informed us as he backed away, and he gave the assassin a wave. "Nice meeting you, Jimmy."

The man only gave a curt nod.

After pointing out which were the best options for me and Jimmy—I had to call him _something_!—to start with, Yancy left us be.

The room was pretty big, and it was dark, too. Dark libraries creeped me out. Actually, dark places of any kind made chills crawl down my spine. The thought of something hiding in the dark while someone went on unaware of the danger looming over them made me squeamish. I looked over my shoulder to see Jimmy immediately getting to work, his arms slowly piling up with books he plucked out of the shelves before dumping them on the closest table and then moving to the next section.

"What are we looking for that we can't even look in the computers?" I asked him.

He paused on his work and gave me a look.

I nearly wanted to face-palm myself at the idea because of course we couldn't search up stuff inside the digital library!

"Right, HYDRA." I muttered.

With that, he returned to his work.

I looked back at the table, fingering the bold letters of each cover. All of them, I noticed, had something to do with the previous wars of America and Russia.

When I heard another pile of books being dropped on the table, I looked up at him and found him staring down at me. I glanced at the books once more, confirming once again that there was more books about World War II and the Cold War Era.

"Is this what we're doing?" I let one of the books in my hand drop on the table top. "Looking back at your past exploits?"

He looked down at the books. "I don't know."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "The fuck you mean _you don't know_?"

He looked up at me when he heard the snarling in my tone, his eyes flashing with warning. I, however, could not stop.

"Bane..." he glowered at me. "Just shut up."

"No, no! Fuck you, man!" I shouted at him. "I've had enough of the bullshit lies told to me and everyone else! Because of what happened, I don't even know who to trust when it comes to my own department! Do you have any idea how fucking _terrifying_ that is?! The idea that there could be some mole feeding lies and making a hit list on people who could have been innocent, and we, the law enforcement, gun them down!"

He began to turn away from me, but I wasn't done. Out of sheer idiocy in my rage, I went around the table and forced him to turn towards me. He startled at my grasp, but I didn't give him a chance because the next thing he knew, he was shoved roughly against a nearby shelf and nearly fell to the ground.

"Don't you _EVER_ fucking walk away when I'm talking, you lil' piece o' shit!"

He stilled, and stared up at me.

I pointed a single finger at his direction. "You, SHIELD, HYDRA, it doesn't matter to me because you're all the same! All of you are holding our lives while we remain ignorant, we're nothing a bunch of extendable assets to be used to your benefits while we go on without knowing what's going."

I harshly slammed a hand on the shelf he was leaning against, and I saw him flinch at the loud sound that emitted from the force.

"SO DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE TELL ME _YOU DON'T KNOW_!" I screamed at his face. "YOU WERE THERE!"

He finally reacted.

"I DON'T KNOW BECAUSE I CAN'T REMEMBER!" he screamed back.

I stared at him with wide eyes for a long moment. Slowly registering the words he threw back, I narrowed my eyes back again.

"What...?!" I croaked out, my throat a bit sore from all the yelling.

He ducked his head down, away from my glaring eyes, an act of submission that threw me off my guard. The Winter Soldier was a killing machine, he would never curl up just because a small blond was giving him a pathetic-excuse-of-a-glare.

"I... I don't remember what's been going on. I don't remember how I was in HYDRA... I don't know why I kill people... I don't know a lot of things." he told me, his breathing shaky and slowly dropping into a whisper.

"You expect me to believe this?" I said, remaining skeptical from all this. "You practically threatened not only me, but the lives of people, in order to coerce me to do your dirty deeds!"

He snapped his head towards me and I was met with furious blue eyes. They weren't cold like the ones I've seen back in the apartment. These eyes were alive and they were burning.

"I..." he struggled to say, but he closed his mouth shut.

I scoffed at him before pulling away and turning towards the door.

"Where are you going?" I heard him demand.

"I'm going home." I snapped over my shoulder. "You can do this little history research just fine."

With that, I pushed the door open and stepped out in the bright corridors. Too angry, I lost clarity of the personal mission I assigned myself and decided to walk myself out of the building. All I could think about was the amount of people used, hurt, and killed because of the people who hid themselves in the background and the shadows.

This was all their fault. Because of their actions, people were now more than ever becoming afraid of the very streets they walked outside on.

I was even more so afraid when I put on my uniform.

Could Becky, an analysis who wore geeky glasses and cracked the funniest jokes ever, be an agent? Was it Jake, the guy who worked in the K-9 unit and spoiled the pups like they were his children? Or was it Isaac, the shy guy who dropped papers on people's desks and did his best to leave anecdotes so people had less time trying to figure out the reports?

There was a lot of people I knew, and each one of them could be an undercover agent whose been always watching, observing, and infesting inside like a maggot.

I bumped into a body.

"Easy there, kiddo." I heard someone say as they steadied me. It was just a guy.

"Sorry." I quipped at them and went on ahead to leave, but I was halted in my tracks.

"You sure you're okay?" the guy said.

"Yeah, man. I'm fine." I waved him off as I tried to clear away the obvious anger on my face.

I looked at the guy and stopped myself short.

This guy looked like he didn't belong inside a library. I knew it wasn't nice to judge people by their looks, but my instincts were blaring loudly about this man's appearance. His long, oily dark hair was slipped back, and he was wearing too dark clothes.

His nose looked crooked, like he had been in a fight so bad that doctors couldn't even fix it properly. The fact that he was big and broad looking told me he had underwent some exercise... or more like combat training from the look of his rough knuckles.

"You alright there, kiddo?"

I slowly nodded, carefully and calmly. "I'm good. Just a small spat between co-workers."

The man only smirked. "I know the feeling."

I gave him a tight-lipped smile. "Well, I better go. Thanks for the talk, I needed it."

"Ah, sure." he chuckled. "But I'd feel a lot better if I took you out to eat or something."

_'Does he know I was with the Winter Soldier?'_ I thought frantically.

Like I had been informed so many times by both the media and the supposedly amnesiac assassin, people were always watching and listening.

"Naw, I'm good." I told him and moved around him.

A hand clasped around itself on my arm.

"I really think," I heard the man say from behind me. "You need to relax."

I wouldn't let another agent get their chance to trap me again. Using the element of surprise, I whirled around and slammed my elbow into the guy's gut. Immediately, the man knelt down as he wheezed from the loss of air. With great strength and speed, I aimed a high kick on the guy's chin and watched him drop down like a chopped-down tree.

Before I could do anything more, however, I heard the familiar sound of a click behind me.

Slowly, I turned my head to find a second man standing with a silent pistol in his hand. I stared at the black barrel aimed at me and lifted my eyes towards the guy holding it. Like the downed man beside me, he was dressed in black and looking way out of the library scene.

I let out a gasp when the sound of a gun went off.

And it was loud.

The man suddenly crumpled to the floor, a pool of blood surrounding his head from the bullet to the temple of his skull. I whipped my head to the direction of where the shot came from and I was surprised to see, standing the middle of the lonely corridor, Jimmy.

He looked exactly like I had first seen him: cold and unfeeling.

His icy eyes turned towards me.

"You...!" I began to say, but I was cut off.

Someone was screaming.


End file.
